The Parallel Years
Sam's birthday is approaching and she is trying her hardest to be nice to contend with a ritual that occurs whenever any young witch turns eleven, but this is complicated when she is chosen to be a hall monitor and immediately goes power hungry, veering closer to becoming a wicked witch. Colleen gets a black eye after getting into a fight with Sam and is too afraid to tell her parents about it. Upon learning about it through Cosmo they take matters into their own hands. Plot Cold Open Enid discovers that there's no milk left in the house, something that has happened for six days straight. Realizing that she has had a camera installed in the kitchen for a month, she pools over the footage to get an idea on who drank all the milk. First, Bob is seen pouring the milk into his coffee. Second, Colleen uses the milk for her cereal. Third, Autumn helps herself to a glass of the milk. Fourth, Julie, Bernadette, Jupiter, Victor and Larry break into the house and dare Larry to chug the milk, him passing out after accomplishing this. Fifth, a monster breaks into the house and drinks all of the milk, becoming human soon after. Finally, Enid is seen sleepwalking to the fridge and drinking it right out of the carton. Enid takes out a carton of milk she bought recently and before she could put it in the fridge, Alison comes in asking for a drink and Enid performs a speech decrying people who hog all of the milk, to the disappointment of everyone who drank out of it. Episode The episode begins with the Halloween Kids finding gift baskets at the foots of their beds. Sam left them there, and they ultimately get mixed reactions. They walk to school and Sam offers to give them a ride on a broomstick she recently worked on, ultimately saying yes after Sam gives them a subtle threat. It leads to them crashing into their school's bell tower. All but Sam and Colleen (the latter of which is trying to retrieve her hoodie) head into school as Colleen readies to confront Sam who goes to her. Later on, the kids learn that Sam's birthday is in a week after Ms. Chapley hints about it, but they aren't sure how to spend it, having wasted too much time by forgetting about it for so long. They decide to take her out for pizza, something she seemingly agrees to without question. Cosmo makes an announcement regarding the new hall monitor and Sam is chosen. After class, Alison goes to talk to Colleen and is surprised to find that she has a black eye. Colleen refuses to say how she got it, but after the kids see Sam mistreating Jupiter and Mercury after catching them running in the hall, as well as the fact that they didn't see Sam and Colleen since they got to school they conclude Sam had something to do with it. Alison goes to call her out on it, but Sam ignores it when she sees that Colleen didn't shut her locker door. It leads to a fight when Colleen stands up to her, causing more blows to her black eye along with some additional bruises. Cosmo breaks up the fight but is unable to punish Sam due to an oversight in the rules which grands hall monitors immunity. Cosmo decides to send Colleen home when she claims that her injuries don't warrant any further looking by the school nurse, but she refuses to get picked up by her parents, opting to have Alison walk her home instead. Colleen claims that her black eye is a sign of weakness and that it may cause her parents to return to their previous ways if they believe she can't stand up for herself. In spite of Alison's protests, Colleen intends to avoid being seen by her parents while she tries to hide her black eye. Upon getting home, she is confronted by the fact that both of her parents are home, along with the added challenge of one of Enid's friends being there as well. Alison helps Colleen by distracting Bob while he's trimming the hedges, and Colleen barely evades Enid, Autumn, Delta and Linda who're in the middle of their bookclub and disconnects the phone line in case Cosmo tries calling the house. Believing that she'd give herself away by going to the bathroom to tend to her wounds, Colleen decides to go to her room and sleep. The women discover that the phone line's down after the latter decides to order Chinese food. A message was left for them by Cosmo revealing that he sent Colleen home to recoup after her fight. Enid goes to confront Colleen but she refuses to let her in. Back in school, Sam continues to mistreat the other students by catching them in technicalities. Julie manages to avoid getting into trouble by hiding in the bathroom and after school she confronts Sam, later noticing that her nose has become larger and warty. Sam rebuffs Julie and goes her own way, though Julie winds up being in earshot of a surprise cackle from Sam, who immediately hides it. Sam invites everyone she busted to her birthday party, but they vow to not go to spite her. To the Dixons, Bob, Enid and Autumn try to get Colleen to open up about her black eye, but she refuses to say anything about it. An invitation to Sam’s birthday party is sent in the mail and after they hear Colleen’s reaction to it, conclude Sam had something to do with the black eye. Alison comes over and after numerous failed attempts at getting her to come out of her room, they manage to get her door open and chase her down, but she evades them. The adults decide to go their own way in dealing with Colleen's dilemma while Alison does the same. It then goes to Sam who slowly succumbs to her darker tendencies and turns into a wicked witch. Alison digs up info on Edgar Frost, a once famous reporter who's career was ruined due to a devastating letdown on a piece he overhyped. After finding him, he reveals that Sam is going through the "parallel change", where one's behavior would determine whether or not they become a good witch or a wicked one. If one continues to act good, they become a good witch, and if they act bad, they become wicked, and hence, villainous. Alison brings up Sam's behavioral change ever since she became hall monitor and Edgar warns her that if she doesn't save Sam before her birthday the change will be permanent. It goes back to Colleen who begins talking to herself while coping with her injuries, leading to her suffering a mental breakdown. The adults use this to get to Colleen and she promptly reveals what has happened. She got her black eye after accidentally angering Sam and it worsened in the fight they had in school afterwards. Colleen claims that she wanted to keep what happened a secret because given Sam's powers it would lead to dire consequences for them. The adults agree to avoid Sam, though secretly they plan on defying her. The adults visit Edgar and he sells them material that'd make them impervious to witch magic, but this turns out to be a scam and it leads to a fight. Edgar loses a flower charm and its aroma somehow gets to Sam, who immediately goes over to Edgar's house. The adults manage to escape, except for Edgar's roommate who's turned into a toad. Sam converts the entire town into a twisted colonial village and kidnaps the children with the intent of subjecting them to the parallel change. Colleen managed to avoid this, having gone down to the basement to fix a blown fuse, and upon seeing what has happened sets out to defeat her. Colleen manages to talk Sam down into a one-on-one fight and Colleen manages to give Sam a black eye while bringing up her own and the turmoil she went through. The others join in and bring up how upset they were when they got punished for minor things. An emotional Sam struggles to grip the remainder of her former self as her birthday draws closer, and her body proceeds to melt, with her former being reemerging. Sam resigns from being hall monitor after Cosmo finds them and Colleen informs her parents that she was able to rectify what happened between her and Sam, while apologizing for avoiding them. The kids and the adults gather at the manor to celebrate Sam's birthday. Sam is elated that now she will spend the remainder of her days as a good witch and seeks to make it up to her friends by revealing deep personal secrets about her. It then goes to the adults, where Kerry is given a wedgie by Lars. Everyone leaves, not wanting any part of what happened. Cast * Mae Whitman: Alison * Melissa Fahn: Colleen * Julie Lemieux: Sam * Jenn Forgie: Julie * Olivia Hack: Jupiter * Janyse Jaud: Mercury * Jonathan Potts: Edgar, answering machine voice * Roger Dunn: Cosmo * Nicole Oliver: Ms. Chapley * Howard Jerome: Bob * Linda Kash: Enid * Patricia Drake: Autumn * Ellen Ray Hennessy: Delta * Terri Hawkes: Hanneke * Emilio Duenas: Pace Trivia * A Jason X poster is present in Edgar's house. His actor, Jonathan Potts, played Professor Lowe in the film. * Emillio Duenas isn't an actual actor, but rather a man randomly chosen to provide an authentic Spanish voice for Pace. Duenas reportedly died after succumbing to cardiac arrest though an exact timeframe was never verified. * Bob’s real name is revealed to be Ronald. Bob is connected to a nickname he had while he was in high school. ** We also get an idea for the source of the Dixon’s income. Bob collects disability checks for his broken back. * Enid’s outfit is changed in this episode and becomes the norm for later episodes. She previously wore a white t-shirt and blue jeans, and it was changed to a white sleeveless button-up shirt with plum-purple jeans. One aspect kept was a pair of yellow sneakers. References *Cars referenced by name. **Eagle Vision: Owned by the Dixons (Enid's personal car) **Mercury Marquis Colony Park: Owned by the Dixons (family car) **Oldsmobile Alero: Owned by Autumn **Mitsubishi Eclipse: Owned by Hanneke **Daewoo Leganza: Owned by Delta *Bad Ronald: Let's Begin is heard in the background during the bookclub scene. *Aqua Teen Hunger Force: The kids talk about this show briefly before Sam appears. *Arachnophobia: Mentioned by name and referencing a scene from it. *Goosebumps: Discussed in the bookclub (particularly Be Careful What You Wish For), with criticism directed toward the ending and better reception going to the adaptation for the TV series. Interestingly, Ellen Ray Hennessy appeared in said TV adaptation and provided the voice of Delta. *Parker Kane: Name of the diner shown in the movie.